Flickr

We took a few too many pix over Christmas for the blog, so I created a flickr account and posted them there. The kids had a great time this year and we are amazed at the changes since spending their first Christmas in the hospital.

Here's the link (click in the upper right corner for a slideshow):

Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas

We hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday. One of these days I'll get Kristy to come back from holiday and actually do a blog post. Until then, I'll just keep posting pictures...

Yesterday, we spent the day with my family (sans Scott's clan, who is taking care of the newborn in Peoria). The kids had a great day and I got another good opportunity to play with the new camera.



This teacup was sent to us from my cousin Vivian and was my Aunt Ruth's (from whom Ella received her middle name)



New books for Gma K



Our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of fried oysters and shrimp


Jack's new favorite toy


Dad taking pictures (he's worse than I am) and Aunt Mimi, Sam and Ryan watching Ella's next present


Showing GGma K our new toys

Welcome Caleb Scott

Congratulations to my little brother and his wife for their latest addition. Caleb Scott was born overnight on 12/19 and weighed in at over 8 lbs and 20 inches. Sounds like he's going to be handful as he was born in my brother's car just 20 minutes after the water broke. All ended well and, fortunately, my folks were there to watch the 3 older kids.

Camera, part 2

I decided to do a wholescale revamping of my camera equipment to save some money and try something new. So, I picked up a Panasonic GF1 Micro Four Thirds camera. I think it does a great job and we'll have some more funds for our day care friends...

A Night in the Life...

So, I sold my old point and shoot on ebay (and some more stuff...) and picked up a new Canon S90. It's not as good as the Nikon D300, but it's about 1/4 of the size and it does have a 2.0 28mm lens and I'm still learning the in's and out's of it. Here are some snaps of a typical evening in our household now. (oh, and she is a daddy's girl, at least I like to think so...)

We play


We eat



We take a bath


We play and eat some more


Then we cry



And finally mommy and daddy make it all better

Thanksgiving w/ the folks

We finally took the kids for an overnight stay with my parents over Thanksgiving. The kids had a great time playing with their cousins and Uncle Scott snapped a couple pictures.

Ella and Grandpa


Sporting the new flannel look with Grandma (and yes, in the background, that is a 16 year old picture of the family posing with a tractor)


Grandma and Grandpa have lots of stuff to break...


And here's a not very good video, but about 1/2 way through, Kristy realizes that the basement door is open. Mama bear...

Putting up the Christmas tree...

Kristy and I were feeling a bit adventurous (well, in our world...) and decided to put up the Christmas tree with some help from the kids. We all had a good time.







And Ella in her pigtails.

Tables, sippies and grandpa

Some pics of Jack and Ella playing on their new table, making blocks with grandpa, trying a new set of sippy cups, and making their Christmas lists.

A Momentous Occasion

Jackie and Bells had their first bites of bacon today. A world of opportunity has erupted for them...

How Ella got her arm back

Today was a great day for the Kokoska family. After over 15 weeks, Ella finally got her arm back. The doc said that the bone had fully healed and looked great. So, after an interesting encounter with the bone saw, we got to finally take her home without a cast. Yeah!!!

Back to normal

Life resumed to a 'normal' state this week. Ella and Jack are both healthy again. Ella has also started to understand and react to her environment much more. She's become quite the helper around the house. She loves to help unload the dishwasher, get diapers for mommy, and let Jackie know when he's doing a 'no-no'. Below are a few pics from the past couple weeks:

Ella's winter hat


Ella under the weather


Ella's new hot pink cast


Ella helping daddy make chili


Jackie under the weather


Classic Jack pose


Grandma Will's version of holding Jack (no comment in case I get in trouble...)


Great-grandma Kokoska's version of holding Jack (seems a bit more educational, but once again, no comment)


Daddy's favorite trio